Chapter 129 03.0128: "Precarious Defense"

"Call to arms! Call to arms!!" All the crew members and sailors who heard the order immediately shouted and conveyed Horatio's order to their companions beside them.

The military drummers beat the rapid drumbeats representing the call to arms, and each post in the artillery sent a part of the men to the armory to collect weapons, while the rest stayed at their posts and continued to fight the enemy ships.

Horatio inserted the golden key into the keyhole on the Thinker's array.

The blast-proof doors of the weapons depots in the second gun emplacement on the port side slowly opened, and the sailors lined up to receive their weapons under the vigilant watch of the military law officers of the Military Supervision Department. Not far away, the sailors were engaged in a fierce exchange of fire with the invaders.

As a battle cruiser, the Indefatigable has enough weapons on board to start a war. Every ordinary sailor can get a gun and a melee weapon.

At the same time, they were allowed to receive a bulletproof breastplate and helmet, which was much more armed than the Q ship at that time.

Although sailors are only allowed to use individual light weapons, there are various styles, including naval laser rifles, shotguns, laser pistols and hand cannons.

Melee weapons include a naval spear as tall as a person, a naval dagger with a wide and slightly curved blade, a boarding axe held in one hand, or a demolition axe held in two hands.

"Armed forces, everyone line up!" Horatio wore a bicorne hat upright, one hand on the sword, and the other hand holding the domineering Holy Blood Chainsaw Sword, and his roar was magnificent and loud.

Under normal circumstances, there will be hundreds of armed sailors on duty in a gun room in three shifts like a crew member.

Once the first-level combat alert is reached, the three squads of soldiers will be armed together, and the total number of armed forces in each battery will soar to thousands. It may seem like a lot, but it is insignificant compared to the ship's internal area, which is measured in kilometers. In addition, the situation is critical, and if the crew is not recruited, the losses will only be greater.

A battleship is not a castle, and its internal cabin structure is not designed for defense.

Except for the command platform and the bridge, which were designed specifically from a defense perspective, it is not easy to organize defense inside most cabins, which is generally even beneficial to invaders.

The artillery defense area is nearly one square kilometer, and the internal combat space is really too large. Each deck is interspersed with narrow indoor close combat environments suitable for CQB and relatively open large spaces and passages. The degree of clutter is no less than that of the lower nest.

Navy shipboard battles usually involve no tanks or mechas; they rely entirely on manpower, cover, and both hot and cold weapons to carry out primitive and brutal fighting.

A complete continuous line of defence is almost impossible to organise, there are usually only 'defence nodes'.

Heavy weapon turrets are high-end items that are only found near command platforms and bridges.

A draggable breastwork is the only defensive fortification for most sailor squadrons, but these heavy steel plates can't defend against enemies coming around from behind even if they can block the front.

Because the combat environment is harsh, complex and different.

The missions given by officers to the armed forces are often simply issued in the form of "capture and hold XX deck" or "capture and fortify XX cabin", and the specific details are decided by the non-commissioned officers of the armed forces based on the terrain of the deck they are on.

The non-commissioned officers would divide their men into tactical teams like a swarm of bees and send them out into each cabin to clear out the enemy.

This is a helpless move, but also the most effective tactic. The complex cabin structure does not allow for more diverse play styles.

Soldiers from both sides often ran past each other with only a layer of bulkhead between them. Infiltration between squads - outflanking - annihilation was everyone's default tactic, and there was no such thing as a 'battle line'.

Even armed sailors did not necessarily know the way around most cabins better than the invaders, and it was not uncommon for both sides to get lost during a fight.

In all the twists and turns, the defenders and invaders would start fighting as soon as they met, and the sudden close-range combat usually lasted for a short time.

After they kill all the enemy squads, they will continue to rush forward, fighting when they encounter the enemy, and joining up with friendly forces when they meet them, until all the enemies are killed, or their own side is killed.

The communication channels of both sides were noisy and chaotic, and no one could figure out the situation in each cabin from the chaotic reports that came in all at once. Indoor close combat often killed one side's soldiers very quickly, and people often fell down before the enemy report was sent out.

The non-commissioned officers did not have a command hand like Horatio, and could not have a bird's eye view from high altitude, so it was difficult for them to know in time which enemy had dismantled which bulkhead and poured out from which interconnected door.

Which cabins and decks have been captured by the enemy? Which of our squads have been annihilated? Should we continue to move forward or retreat and wait for reinforcements? Everything is almost shrouded in the fog of war created by the metal bulkheads.

The confusing twists and turns between cabin corridors and the layers of fire doors will limit the sailors' mobility, making the journey to reinforcement and help long and dangerous.

These factors make the boarding and counter-boarding battles extremely bloody and primitive, which is also the main reason why Farida is worried about Horatio's safety.

Because even if he spread out his soldiers and advanced forward, he couldn't tell whether the cabin he was in would be hit head-on by an enemy squad running around in the cabin.

Even the Blood Angels, who were Space Marines, once paid a terrible price in order to clear out the Tyranids on a wrecked space ship, which was regarded as a shame in the history of the chapter.

Intensive gunfire and heart-wrenching screams echoed in the countless cabin corridors of the No. 4 Macro Cannon launch platform. "Blood sacrifice to the Blood God! Cut off their heads!" The rebel soldiers who had abandoned the Empire launched a fierce attack on the bomb bay of the No. 4 Macro Cannon under the roar of the traitorous sergeant.

Even though reinforcements were on the way to the decks of the No. 4 Macro Cannon on the port side, the current situation was precarious for the armed sailors who were fighting.

Once part of the Imperial Army, these crimson-armored warriors were sacred currency, but now they are willing to sacrifice their lives to please their evil masters and satisfy the desires of the Traitor Space Marines.

Armed sailors can't stop these lunatics.

The Blood Pact soldiers rushed forward and engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the armed sailors behind the breastwork. The sailors, who were outnumbered by the invaders, killed several with bayonets and sailor knives, but were soon dispersed by the tide.

Several sailors fell to the ground, and the next moment they were ripped open by the Blood Pact soldiers who rushed over with sharp and brutal weapons.

"Retreat in an orderly manner! Retreat to the next defensive position!!" an armed sergeant shouted while holding a laser pistol.

He led the remaining sailors to retreat and fight at the same time, trying to slow down the enemy's pursuit.

Just as he ran through an intersection, a battle axe swept across his chest, smashing through his breastplate and causing blood to flow profusely.

The armed sergeant fell to the ground and saw the Blood Pact axemen wearing hideous iron masks. They chopped through the nearby bulkheads and surrounded the sailors' retreat.

The retreating sailors were attacked on the flank by the sudden enemy, and many of them fell to the ground. These crazy butchers swung their large battle axes to execute the wounded.

The seriously injured armed sergeant tried to raise his pistol to kill the axeman in front of him, but his arm was chopped off by the axe in an instant.

He let out a scream, and the axeman ruthlessly swung the brutal battle axe at his chest and head, chopping him into pieces in utmost brutality.
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A reserve force to fight for the bomb bay was quickly assembled to the sound of military drums.

Horatio walked past the heavily armed marines.

Standing in the front was the Navy's boarding team, a total of 200 tall and sturdy professional soldiers, in addition to 500 armed sailors from the nearest barracks, and hundreds of armed sailors who also participated in the fight.

These people are just the first batch. The second batch of 800 armed sailors have been allocated from the command bridge and are on the way to provide support.

Horatio knew very well that he had to control the situation before it became irreversible, not only for Captain Peru's trust, but also for his and Farida's lives.

Captain Peru also gave Horatio face. When he saw that it was him who sent the signal for help, he asked the captain of the operations department to squeeze out hundreds of sailors from the bridge below to go for support and began to assemble the third reserve force.

"I know that many of you were born and raised in this area. You all already understand the situation. We will rush to the No. 4 Macro Cannon from the nearest corridors. If we fail, the entire port side second artillery will be blown into fragments in the void."

Horatio placed his left hand on the sword at his waist, his iron hand grasping the chainsword with the Blood Angels Chapter emblem, and mobilized in a loud voice.

"Today you are fighting for your homeland and your honor. Now, advance in three groups according to the predetermined plan. In the name of the Emperor, we must thwart the enemy's conspiracy!"

The soldiers gave a savage war cry in unison, and to the beating of drums, they divided into four groups and ran towards the corridor.

In Horatio's plan, the first line of troops departed from the officers' fast corridor, which was relatively wide and straight. From here, 100 armed sailors and 50 boarding team members could reach the periphery of the bomb bay and control the main path. They would clear the enemy infiltration forces from the outside to the inside.

The second group of troops will go down to the middle deck. They will rely on the main structure bulkhead to block the enemy troops from advancing towards the bomb bay and support the defenders on the middle gun bay deck.

The third force was the annihilation force, led by Horatio himself. This team consisted of one hundred boarding crew members, 350 armed sailors, and hundreds of substitute sailors and armed sailors. As long as someone fell in front, they would immediately fill the position to ensure that Horatio could kill all enemies along the way.

The reason for dividing the troops was that the battle width in the narrow corridor space could not be spread out by so many people, which would waste a lot of firepower. Dividing the troops to attack on multiple fronts to ensure a continuous supply of support was the most appropriate choice.

In his mind, he would use the hand of command to perform micro-management as much as possible, and use the unique advantage of the bird's-eye view to help himself complete the task and save his own life and Farida's life.

Horatio raised his iron hand.

Activation: Hand of Command

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(End of this chapter)